Looks like all the pints of Guinness I drank went straight to my face and… back? 😂
Before the holiday, April I weighed 178.6 lbs.
After the holiday, 186.6 lbs!
Exactly 8 pounds of damage.
(Though us personal trainers know that there’s a lot of salt and water weight magical nonsense going on there.)
So I got serious and whipped out an old weapon I used back in 2018 when I lost 100 lbs.
This spreadsheet right here.
These are the healthy behaviors I followed:
Had most of my protein early in the day.
Lifted weights 3-5x a week.
Followed a loose “eating window” of 4am-12pm (yes… I wake up early to train clients!)
Had a sleeping consistent schedule, even on the weekends.
Reduced alcohol to almost nothing. Just the occasional cider on Friday.
Tracked calories.
Weighed myself almost every day. (6 days a week on average)
Made it a point to get a minimum of 7,000 steps (usually 9,000).
How to use the spreadsheet:
If you look at the spreadsheet, here’s what you need to know:
When are you starting? EXAMPLE: April 21, 2024
What’s your starting weight? EXAMPLE: 186.6 lbs.
What’s your goal weight? EXAMPLE: 170 lbs.
How much do you want to lose per week? EXAMPLE: 1% of my weight per week
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For the “Goal Weight Loss per Week” cell in the spreadsheet (F8), I put in =0.01*L4 as a function so I would always lose 1% of my average weight for that week.
If you want to lost 0.5% of your weight per week, then you can enter =0.005*L4 for a more gradual, steady weight loss rate.
For each day, you fill in how many calories you consumed and how much you weighed.
Tip
Weigh yourself in the morning after using the bathroom. This minimizes weight fluctuation.
From there it will calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).
This will help you know if you’re heading in the right direction.
NOTE
The weight listed after the number of the week is my average weight for that week.
So AFTER completing week 1 of tracking calories and weighing myself, my average weight was 183.1 lbs.
My starting weight on April 21, 2024 was 186.6 lbs. Hope that makes sense.
Week 1 - 183.1 lbs
For the first week, I needed to establish a baseline. I just wanted to collect data so I could make good decisions in the following week.
I know my metabolism pretty well, so I picked a calorie target that wasn’t too far from maintenance.
I picked 2,600 kcal as my target for the week (and it ended up averaging at 2592, so my adherence was good!)
Now, the calculator was freaking out because I lost a ton of water weight in the first week. Of course, some of that is fat, too.
Because I lost 3.46 lbs. in 7 days, it estimated my TDEE to be 4320 kcal per day!
Week 2 - 180.5 lbs
As much as I wished I could burn as many calories as Michael Phelps, I knew the calculator was giving my metabolism too much credit!
So I reduced calories a little bit more the next week. Now my calorie target was 2,400 kcal. My average ended up being 2326 kcal. I just wasn’t that hungry.
That week, I lost 2.66 lbs. The calculator estimated my TDEE to be 3985 kcal per day. It was stabilizing a little bit, but not enough.
I decided to stay at 2,400 kcal as my calorie target for that week, just to see what happens.
Notice that I’m not rushing to cut down my calories significantly just yet. I’m patiently collecting data.
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Week 3 - 179.2 lbs
So this week, weight loss rate was slowing down. I lost 1.29 lbs., so I knew that the post holiday water weight was nearly gone!
My calories ended up averaging to 2430 kcal per day for the week, so I was sticking to the plan quite well.
I decided to stay at 2,400 kcal for the following two weeks.
Week 4 - 178.6 lbs
This week was a little disappointing, not gonna lie! I only lost 0.57 lbs.
Instead of decreasing calories, I decided to increase my steps a bit.
Instead of 7,000 steps being the minimum, I increased steps to 8,000.
Week 5 - 177.0 lbs
Down 1.60 lbs! Calories averaging out to 2388 kcal for the week.
I improved the quality of my tracking this week, too. More diligent with tracking sauces and other “ghost” calories.
The more diligent tracking, coupled with more activity, allowed me to have a bit of a “whoosh” effect. You know, when you’re plateauing a bit on your weight and then you lose a bunch in one go.
Tip
“Ghost” calories are the sauces, toppings, and other sneaky foods that often get overlooked. Milk in your coffee. Teriyaki sauce on your chicken. Finishing your kids’ food. Your significant other giving you a spoon of their ice cream. It all adds up.
Week 6 - 175.8 lbs.
This week I lost 1.23 lbs. Slowing down a bit again. I knew I was heading in the right direction, though, because I hit an all-time low of 174.8 lbs.
But it was time. All the patient tracking I did earlier was about to pay off…
I successfully collected 6 weeks of data. Finally. I can follow the most important step to use this tool to its full potential.
With this spreadsheet, you need to copy it and delete the first two weeks of data.
This gets rid of the overestimation it does because of water weight.
Having sliced off those two weeks, my estimated TDEE sits at around 2,680 kcal.
Hey, looks like I was right on target when I tried to pick a maintenance calorie target for that first week. 😎
Now based on this, the calculator is suggesting 1805 kcal/day to create a daily deficit of 875 kcal.
I’m going to put it to the test.
If I was making great progress already eating 2,400 kcal, can you imagine how fast things will move with a 800+ kcal deficit?
The best part is, I feel great.
I’m not going to bed too hungry. But if I am a little hungry, I know that I’m definitely at a calorie deficit. The scale confirms it the next morning without fail.
This first week, eating 1,800 kcal has felt very easy. I just focused on eating more high volume, high fiber, high protein foods so I can feel fuller, longer, with fewer calories.
Energy and mood is good, too. Getting good sleep makes weight loss a joke, to be honest!
This morning, I weighed 173.6 lbs. Less than 4 pounds to go!
Let’s see if I can hit it in 3 weeks.
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